Raul Castro to Company: Your Idea Stinks

Fragrance finito. The news from Havana: Labiofam was forced on Friday to put a stopper in the “Hugo” and “Che” colognes it uncorked on Thursday.

We had said that these power-to-the-people perfumes, named for Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez, were put on the market. It appears we were in error. They were prototypes. After 24 short hours they have evanesced, and Labiofam—which turns out to be a state-run company directed by José Antonio Fraga Castro, the nephew of Fidel Castro and President Raúl Castro—is in trouble.

“Symbols are sacred,” read the reprimand in Granma, the official organ of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. “Initiatives of that nature will never be accepted by our people or by the Revolutionary Government.”

“For this grave error,” it went on, “the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken.”

It was signed by the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, of which Raúl Castro is the head.

Labiofam “said it had obtained the agreement of the families of Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez to use their names” on these products “but that has now been denied by the Cuban government,” reported the BBC.